By FARIS SAAD. “Even if I lost everything else, I would still have my core group of friends who accept me as my handsome self. Without them, and without music, I wouldn’t have had the courage to transition.”

By JULYA OUI. “From having a queer family I had to come back to my immediate family. From having friends all over the city I came back to none. From living with my soul mate I came back to being alone.”